'60 Minutes' issues warning on Benghazi source

Nov. 8, 2013
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Libyans walk on the grounds of the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 12, 2012. The day before, an attack killed four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens. / Ibrahim Alaguri, AP

by Melanie Eversley, USA TODAY

by Melanie Eversley, USA TODAY

The television show 60 Minutes has announced it has learned of new information that undercuts information it received from contractor Morgan Jones on his actions the night of the 2012 attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi.

"We are currently looking into this serious matter to determine if he misled us, and if so, we will make a correction," the news program wrote in a statement e-mailed shortly before 8 p.m. ET Thursday.

Morgan Jones, a pseudonym for Dylan Davies, was a source in a recent piece on the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. Davies was a security officer hired to protect the mission and trained local guards there.

Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans died in the attack.

The progressive media watchdog group Media Matters for America on Nov. 1 asked CBS to retract its story after The Washington Post ran a piece indicating that Morgan was nowhere near the compound the night of the attack.

On Thursday night, it issued a follow-up statement to that request:

"I'm pleased that 60 Minutes is beginning to take the necessary steps toward righting a very serious error," founder David Brock said in a statement. "I reiterate my call for CBS News to rely on an independent investigative committee - the same standard that it used to address similar controversies in the past."

Brock also made reference to CBS' admission that a subsidiary is publishing a book by Jones.